Mobile Computing, gardening and occassional fishing strategies

Why the East Fork Soothes My Soul-- I'm a Hardwired Mountain Lover

Lois and Gayle Susan Forbes, Azusa, CANovember 1955.

It’s no wonder I’m hardwired to love mountainscapes: Both ofmy grandfathers grew up in an area of Colorado’s San Luis Valley near towns nowcalled “The Teens” and my dad was born in Saguache, CO. Further fusing my bondto mountains, my mother spent her childhood on the East Fork of the San GabrielRiver in the Azusa Canyon. Many of my earliest memories are stories of mountainmornings, Western Wildlife and sitting by the side of the East Fork under ashady oak on hot summer days.

The East Fork defines my soul. This small year round streamis where I learned to fish for trout using flies that mimicked native bugs andwhen those wouldn’t work, I resorted tobright red salmon eggs on egg hooks tiedto long leaders that bounce down the stream in front of tiny split shot. I’vealways been able to come home from trips to the East Fork with a couple oftrout in my aged creel.

My mother was always my secret ace in the hole when it cameto fishing the East Fork. She had encyclopedic ground truth knowledge of thisstream gained from countless fishing trips with her parents. In the course ofmy life, that information, plus their love of the East Fork was passed to me.

I’ve always been aware o the cycle of life—in six decades, I’veseen the East Fork burn, flood and repeatedly regenerate. But zooming up to theEast Fork this weekend before Thanksgiving tested my resolve. Lois Sele’s twosons and one grandson were on a trip to return the remains of someone whopassed her love of the Azusa Canyon to two generations.

I scattered my 94 year old mother’s ashes streamside todayon the East Fork. It was her sincerest wish and I was able to see the taskthrough. And as the early afternoon sun refracted off a rill, a small troutjumped. Mom would have laughed at the rainbow’s antics.

I’m not overly spiritual but I think it was a positive signyou simply cannot contain the spirit of East Fork Creatures, they’ll burstthrough every time. And my mom, Lois Sele Forbes was a force of nature, asresolute as the year round river that carved the San Gabriel Valley from toughmountain granite.

I’ll miss perfectly roasted turkeys, Apple pie and holidaytreats that marked the sweetness of the family she built and nurtured over 94 years.

Farewell, Mom: child of the Depression, sewer of World WarII assault transport glider wings, and maker of dresses and shirts for herfamily. You made us laugh at ourselves and taught us that having a rich lifeisn’t something that’s totaled on a monthly bank statement; it’s something thatshows up at family gatherings --.Jim Forbes on November 17, 2012.